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We are all connected, and the choices we make impact many lives

GROWING EDGES

Now and then, I have a moment of delusion and think that I’m fully the “master of my ship,” the person in control of the trajectory of my life — the captain of my fate.

Inevitably and predictably, Life itself interrupts my fantasies and introduces me one more time to the reality of life as it is.

Whether that intervention is conducted by a simple interruption in what I thought was going to be my schedule or my life — or something life-changing — Life lets me know that I live on a never-ending learning curve, often through another person.

Most of the time, I can roll with the punches of everyday life, but now and then, I am slammed against one of those moments when I could not possibly have foreseen what was coming at me.

Repeatedly, I am brought to the point of praying one more time for the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, and the courage to change the things I can.

I was brought up on the warning that people reap what they sow. My mother made that one thing clear before I was an adult, and most assuredly, before she dropped me off for my college career.

Whatever I chose to do, she made sure I knew, there would be consequences, for better or otherwise.

I confess that it was the “otherwise” part of her warning that kept me out of trouble more than once. As an adult, I’ve learned the wisdom of staying in my own lane, taking care of my responsibilities and minding my own business.

I am perhaps overly-conscientious about making sure I’ve checked-off the boxes for tasks that belong to me.

I keep deadlines, and I still show up on time to do the work I do, not only because it’s right to do that, but because I love my work.

I work at treating people as I want to be treated, and for the most part, I follow rules.

Even so, I blow it more often than I'd wish. I make mistakes, say things and do things I wish I hadn’t, but mostly, I also try to fix what I have broken and repair my own blunders.

About the time I think I’m balanced and handling what is in my lane, I am launched, pushed or shoved into wrestling with having to reap what another has sown.

The unavoidable truth is that every one of us humans who shares space on this fragile planet makes choices and mistakes that affect other people.

We're all capable of doing things, either unconsciously or with full intent, that take advantage of others or bring outright harm to other human beings.

We live together with different sets of standards, sometimes opposing beliefs and ideas about what is mine and what is ours, and we have many different ideas about how the world should run and who should run it.

So it is that we humans reap crops we haven’t sown. Each of us lives under the influence of others’ choices and actions, and sometimes that is for the good and sometimes it is devastating.

To be sure, we “suffer the consequences” of choices we make and those that others make, and sometimes that suffering lasts for a very long time.

Whether we like it or not, we are interdependent. What each of us does affects those around us, and may ripple out far beyond our awareness.

Who among the adults hasn’t had to pay our dues or suffer the consequences of what someone else has done?

Which one of us hasn’t had to bear the heartache of choices made by a loved one, or some person you've never even met? Who doesn’t know someone who lives under the bondage or pain of something another person created?

We are a human family — like it or not — and when we can learn that, perhaps we can learn be more conscious of the choices we make and how they affect others.

Choices matter, and like it or not, what one of us does affects other, often lasting for generations.

Jeanie Miley is a former San Angelo resident, and an inspirational author and speaker. Her column appears Saturdays. Email her at jeaniemiley19@aol.com.